Vegan Cherry and Chocolate Hand Pies with Ricotta. Heart-Shaped For Your Valentine!
February 11, 2014
in Chocolate · Desserts · Fruit · Holiday · Pies and Tarts
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Vegan Chocolate Cherry Ricotta Hand Pies by An Unrefined Vegan

Valentine’s Day recipe number two!  To my mind, mouth, and tummy there isn’t much better than juicy fruit wrapped up in a buttery, crumbly, flaky crust.  Especially when half of that crust has chocolate in it.

There are a lot of steps to this recipe, but everything can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble the pies.  And hey, you’re doing it for the one you love, right?

Vegan Chocolate Cherry Ricotta Hand Pies by An Unrefined Vegan

 

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Cherry, Chocolate and Almond Ricotta Hand Pies

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  • Author: Annie
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Description

A sweet and decadent treat for your Valentine.

Ingredients

Scale

Chocolate Crust

  • 1/2 cup raw walnuts
  • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  • 2 Tbsp. cacao powder
  • 1 tsp. powdered stevia
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 stick vegan butter, such as Earth Balance, cut into pieces
  • 2–3 Tbsp. ice cold water

Vanilla Crust

  • 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
  • pinch salt
  • 1/4 tsp. vanilla liquid stevia (I use NuNaturals)
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 stick vegan butter, cut into pieces
  • 2–3 Tbsp. ice cold water

Almond Ricotta

  • 2 cups blanched almonds, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup water
  • pinch salt
  • or use your favorite store-bought vegan ricotta

Cherry-Chocolate Filling

  • 1/2 of a 14.5 can of tart cherries, drained and chopped
  • 1 heaping Tbsp. vegan mini chocolate chips

Instructions

Make the chocolate crust

  1. In a food processor, pulse the walnuts a few times to break them down. Add the flour, cacao, stevia, and salt and pulse to combine.
  2. Add the vegan butter and pulse until the texture of the mixture looks like coarse meal.
  3. With the processor running, pour the ice water in through the chute and process until the dough comes together.
  4. Remove the dough and knead it a few times to form a smooth ball; flatten it and cover with plastic wrap.
  5. Chill the dough for a few hours.

Make the vanilla crust

  1. In a food processor, add the flour and salt and pulse to combine.
  2. Add the vegan butter and pulse until the texture of the mixture looks like coarse meal.
  3. With the processor running, pour the vanilla extract, vanilla stevia and the ice water in through the chute and process until the dough comes together.
  4. Remove the dough and knead it a few times to form a smooth ball; flatten it and cover with plastic wrap.
  5. Chill the dough for a few hours.

Make the almond ricotta

  1. In a food processor or blender, process the drained almonds with the 1 cup water and salt until the mixture is very smooth. Add some vanilla extract if you want a more pronounced vanilla flavor.
  2. Set aside until ready to assemble the hand pies.

Make the cherry-chocolate filling

  1. Combine the chopped cherries with the chocolate chips.
  2. Set aside until ready to assemble the hand pies.

Make the hand pies

  1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 375-degrees F.
  2. Roll out one of the rounds of dough until it’s about 1/4″ thick. Using a large heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut as many hearts as you can, placing them on the baking sheets.
  3. Knead the remaining dough, roll out, and cut as many additional hearts as you can.
  4. Place about 1 tablespoon of ricotta in the middle of each heart, spreading it out a bit. (You’ll have leftover ricotta.)
  5. Divide the cherry mixture between the hearts, spreading it on top of the ricotta.
  6. Roll out the other dough round and repeat the process of cutting out hearts, re-rolling and cutting more hearts.
  7. Place the hearts on top of the filled hearts, gently pressing the edges to seal. Seal completely using the tines of a fork. Prick the tops of the hearts with the fork.
  8. If you like, melt some coconut oil or vegan butter and brush the tops of the hand pies. Then sprinkle with sparkling sugar.
  9. Bake the hand pies for about 15 minutes. They should be browned on the edges. Let pies cool for a few minutes on the pans, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 10
  • Calories: 530
  • Sugar: 3
  • Sodium: 178
  • Fat: 41
  • Saturated Fat: 15
  • Unsaturated Fat: 23
  • Trans Fat: 1
  • Carbohydrates: 32
  • Protein: 13
  • Cholesterol: 61

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Vegan Chocolate Cherry Ricotta Hand Pies by An Unrefined Vegan

38 thoughts on “Vegan Cherry and Chocolate Hand Pies with Ricotta. Heart-Shaped For Your Valentine!”

  1. tearoomdelights

    These are beautiful, Annie! Anyone getting these on Valentine’s Day would know they were appreciated. I was wondering what vegan ricotta would consist of and now I know.

    My favourite thing to put inside of pie crust is just about anything you can conceivably wrap pastry round, sweet or savoury, but if I have to choose one filling I’ll go for fresh raspberries, baked in a wholemeal pie crust, hot, tangy and delicious straight from the oven.

    Reply ↓
  2. Gabby @ the veggie nook

    Oh wow so adorable!! I especially like how simple your almond ricotta is! I will definitely have to remember that one 🙂

    If I had to choose one pie filling- either fresh cherries or apples….or pumpkin. Ok I know that’s 3 but it’s impossible to choose just one! My mood totally changes with the season 😉

    Reply ↓
    1. An Unrefined Vegan Post author

      I know what you mean – – it’s tough to pick just one. Cherries or raspberries make me very happy – oh and peaches!, but in the fall I really want pumpkin or sweet potato.

      Reply ↓
  5. sarah@thesweetlife

    So beautiful! I am always too lazy to make pie crust but then I’m missing out on heart shaped pie pockets! Also if I were to fill a pie like this it would definitely be with cherry chocolate filling and almond ricotta 🙂

    Reply ↓
      1. sarah@thesweetlife

        No, I would never have thought of it before. It’s just that after you made this I thought, “of course! Why fill a pie with anything else?”. 🙂 I can’t wait for mg next excuse to make dessert for this reason!

    1. An Unrefined Vegan Post author

      What a great surprise! Have a great weekend and I hope you all like the hand pies ;-)! I got nine pies. Really depends on what size cookie cutter you use.

      Reply ↓
    1. An Unrefined Vegan Post author

      Yeah, I figured I’d get into the spirit this year, hehe. I had a heart-shaped cake pan and ended up giving it away! I could never get the cake to come out in one piece! Cake baking is not my strong suit…

      Reply ↓
  8. Sophie33

    Waw, Annie! These look just wonderful, appetizing & amazing & they are good for you too! 😉 I will use a combo of light & wholemeal spelt flour in these beauties! The filling is tasty too,..yummm! xxx

    Reply ↓
  14. Becky

    These are so cute, and I love the almond ricotta recipe – so simple! Would it work in pasta dishes etc? I’ve always made my ricotta from tofu but would love to branch out!

    Reply ↓
    1. An Unrefined Vegan Post author

      I haven’t tried it, but I think it would probably work. I might add a binder ingredient of some kind.

      Reply ↓

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